The first lady of Sierra Leone is understood to be the tenant of a council flat in south London despite owning an extensive property portfolio in Africa.

Fatima Jabbe-Bio, a former actress, left London in 2018 when her husband, Julius Maada Bio, became president. Since then, the couple have lived in the presidential lodge in Freetown, the capital of Sierra Leone. Set in extensive grounds in the hills above the city, the luxury mansion is equipped with a swimming pool, tennis courts and a helipad.

Records show that Jabbe-Bio, 44, registered to vote at a two-bedroom council flat in Southwark several times since 2009. Southwark council confirmed that the flat has had the same tenant since 2007, indicating that Jabbe-Bio continues to rent the property. This would appear to breach council housing regulations, which require that such a property be a tenant’s sole or principal residence.

Jabbe-Bio was born in Sierra Leone and came to London to pursue a career in modelling and acting, ultimately appearing in a handful of low-budget Nigerian movies. She met Maada Bio, now 60, in London in 2012, where he was fundraising for his first presidential run. They married in 2013 and lived at the property in Southwark until his 2018 election victory. Maada Bio was a brigadier during Sierra Leone’s civil war in the 1990s.

A report published on Saturday by the Organised Crime and Corruption Reporting Project, citing property records, alleges that the first lady owns two villas in the Gambia, a flat in a luxury estate and an entire apartment building.

The couple’s tastes extend beyond property. President Bio is regularly photographed indulging in luxury cars and watches, and has been criticised for his extensive use of private jets on official trips abroad at public expense. In 2021 he hired a private jet to travel to London for a largely remote summit.

A villa acquired by Jabbe-Bio in 2023

It remains unclear why Jabbe-Bio has retained tenancy of the Southwark flat, where she has been registered to vote several times since 2009 and also registered a company in 2008.

Neighbours said that she visited the flat sporadically and as recently as last autumn. “Last year in October or November, she came with these executive cars, black Mazdas, and entered the house,” said a neighbour.

Letters addressed to the couple were left outside the front door. Neighbours recognised Tigda Soley, the first lady’s daughter from a previous marriage, in pictures shown to them. Soley, 19, was registered to vote at the address in 2023.

Letters addressed to the Bios have been left outside the front door

The waiting list for London’s social housing is at its longest in a decade: 336,366 eligible households in April last year, the latest available figures show. London accounts for one in four households waiting for social housing in England.

The average waiting time for a three-bedroom council home in Southwark is more than five years and more than 18,000 households are on the borough’s waiting list, including more than 4,000 in temporary accommodation. The average monthly council rent for a two-bedroom flat in Southwark is about £560, less than a third of today’s average market rent for a two-bedroom apartment in Southwark, which stood at £2,232 as of March.

“The UK faces an escalating housing crisis, with recent figures from the government showing that a record number of households are homeless and living in temporary accommodation,” said John Glenton, chief care and support officer for the housing association Riverside Group.

The council flat is in the borough of Southwark

ALAMY

During her husband’s presidency, Jabbe-Bio has been outspoken against child marriage, sexual violence and western interference in African affairs. Her activism has led to invitations to speak at prominent western universities and international forums, including Harvard and the UN general assembly.

She was named 2024’s “first lady of the year” at the London Political Summit and Awards, an event hosted in parliament by the Labour MP Afzal Khan and Andrew Gwynne, now an independent.

Sierra Leone’s first family is already facing scrutiny over its association with one of the most wanted men in Europe, the Dutch cocaine kingpin Jos Leijdekkers, who was filmed sitting two rows behind the Bios at a church service. Leijdekkers, who has lived in Sierra Leone for more than two years and is reported to have transferred his cocaine-trafficking operations there, is the partner of President Bio’s daughter Agnes, a diplomat at the UN Security Council in New York.

Asked about the occupancy of the property, Southwark council declined to comment on individual cases. A spokesman said: “Social housing tenants have a right to stay in their homes regardless of income, unless they fail to meet the obligations in their tenancy agreement. Where this is in doubt, we perform regular checks and investigations to determine whether those obligations are being met.”

Neither the first lady, President Bio nor Tigda Soley responded to requests for comment.